2017 IACHR Hearing on Access to Public Information relating to Extractive Projects

On 18 March 2017, the Save Santo Domingo Environmental Movement (MASSD) (in partnership with the Humboldt Centre) and Law, Environment and Natural Resources (DAR), among others, appeared before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) to provide testimony for a hearing, entitled the “Right of Access to Information and Transparency in Environmental Management, Licensing, Monitoring, and Oversight of Extractive Activities in the Americas.” A representative of Save Danto Domingo Environmental Movement testified that in Nicaragua “one of the mechanisms used to defend the rights of rural communities is access to public information” (DAR, 2017). As an example, the representative referenced the “Tajo La Antena” project (located near the Jabalí neighbourhood in Santo Domingo’s city centre; also known as, Jabalí Antena Underground project). This project is part of the larger La Libertad Mine project, and impacts water sources of the Santo Domingo municipality. The “process of granting and approval of the environmental impact study (EIA)” for this portion of the project  “was not consulted or shared with the community” (Ibid). Moreover, according to the Humboldt Centre, “in the last 8 or 10 years [as of the date of the hearing], [the Centre had] not had access to public information despite having repeatedly requested it from the relevant authorities” (Ibid).

In Nicaragua, the right to access to public information is governed by, among other things, the Law on Access to Public Information (No. 621), which emphasizes the principles of transparency and citizen participation through requests for information necessary to present proposals or formulate opinions on the public administration of the country  (Article 3), as well as the Law on Transparancy for State Entities and Companies (No. 662) and the Law on Citizen Participation (No. 475).

DAR emphasized that violations of the right to access to public information occurs in “two moments”:  the “socio-environmental decision making prior to the granting of the concession, and in the development of the mining-energy project. The main victims of this omission are peasant communities, indigenous peoples, rural populations or other groups in situations of vulnerability and historical discrimination” (Ibid). The Centre identified prohibitions on online or physical access to information, lack of training, and arbitrary application of disclosure categories as common limitations faced by communities attempting to exercise their right to access to public information (Ibid).

During the hearing, the petitioners requested that (1) “the IACHR to demand that the states of Guatemala, Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic comply effectively with the laws of transparency, access to information, participation and consultation”, (2) these states be required to “[develop] indicators to assess the impact of extractive megaprojects on human rights”, and (3) “that members of the IACHR visit the regions affected by the projects exposed during the hearing” (DAR, 2017).

The Organization of American States (OAS) Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression further emphasized the need to ratify and comply with the Regional Agreement on Access to Information, Public Participation and Access to Justice in Latin America and the Caribbean (Escazú Agreement), which on 27 September 2018 was signed by 15 of 33 countries in the region, exclusive of Nicaragua (DAR 2017, ECLAC). Nicaragua was one of 12 countries to ratify, of the 24 signatories to, the Escazú agreement, which entered into force in April 2021.

This hearing was held as part of the IACHR’s 161st Period of Sessions. In its report on the session, the IACHR stated that “[v]iolating the right of access to information violates other rights such as the right to life, to a healthy environment, to health, to personal integrity, and so on” (IACHR Report, 2017). The Commission did not make any specific recommendations in its report.  A video of the hearing is available through the IACHR referenced below.